Snow skiing is an extremely popular and ever-growing sport. It has the advantage that it can be done in groups of people, or a person can virtually go off alone and ski enjoying the outdoors and communing with nature. While skiing is extremely exhilarating it can be quite exciting particularly on the more advanced slopes. Despite efforts to make the sport safe, there remains a significant risk that the person will fall during the descent and that the fall might be at any time and in any place.
Many of the larger ski resorts have fifty to a hundred separate trails. These trails are carved out of the woods and vary from the beginning slopes to the most advanced slopes. Many times there are portions of these trails that are completely hidden from other trails and certainly from the resort building structures at the bottom of the hill. It is recommended that persons travel in pairs and that they ski down the same trails together. However, because of varying abilities, and because some persons wish to go out alone, it is not uncommon for a single person to be on a trial, sometimes with no one else around. This typically might be early in the morning or late in the afternoon as the sun sets. Some of the more advanced trails are relatively narrow and if a skier loses control he or she may well essentially "fly" off the trail and into the underbrush. In many cases, where there has been heavy snowfall, the snow can be quite deep and unpacked off the trail. If the person is injured either by the fall or as a result of striking a tree, he or she may not be able to get back to the trail, particularly out of heavy snow drifts. If the person cannot release the bindings, it can be virtually impossible to get out of the deep snow unless the skis can be released. Each year, there are a number of skiers that are lost in this fashion and suffer from exposure, sometimes resulting in death. The problem arises that when the person shows up missing, it is virtually impossible to locate that person if he or she is off the trail and in the brush or woods. Unless the search is successful, the person might stay there overnight and perish.
While a number of devices have been provided for persons lost in open water, none of these devices are applicable or satisfy the needs of a person lost off the trail in the snow. These devices do not satisfy the needs described herein above nor attain the objects described herein below.